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If the Headgear Fits…

The world of Star Wars is one of the most in depth fictional universes to date. They hold over ten thousand years of history filled with numerous notable characters many of whom have never and will never show up on screen. They go so deep as to explain the inner workings of the Galactic Empire, a prominent figure in Star Wars history, arguably the most powerful entity the galaxy had ever seen. As powerful as they were with their Death Stars, Star Destroyers, and TIE fighters they needed people to support their government and people to man all of these vehicles to maintain order. They would have to use propaganda as well to gain the trust of the masses.

The poster depicted is “If the headgear fits, wear it!” was a recruitment poster made by the empire linked to the television show “Star Wars Rebels.” The poster depicts the areas of the Imperial military that one could join; the officers, storm troopers, TIE fighter pilots, tank drivers, recon division, and snow troopers/ Vader’s fist. The empire was heavily reliant on volunteer soldiers and needed to gain the support of the human population. The empire stopped cloning for various reasons switching to this new method to also bolster support for the young empire. This along with other recent posters were released at earliest in 2014 for Disney XD’s television show “Star Wars Rebels.” The early show took place on an outer rim planet named Lothal recently under the control of the empire (Wookiepedia). This planet wanted economic support from the empire and became a factory planet with no regard for the planet’s environment. The empire used propaganda to get the Lothal settlers on their side, through the use of posters and parades on holidays such as “Empire Day.” Control of the holonet, a crude form of the internet in Star Wars, was used as well to gain the settlers to show favor with the empire by spreading misinformation to them.

Artistically the poster used colors synonymous to the empire such as red and black. The use of a human head for the officer head is meant to show a glimpse into the empire’s anti-nonhuman culture. The empire was a humanocentric civilization known for extinguishing multiple nonhuman species and commonly denying aliens high ranking positions in the military. The faceless helmets were made for people to see the helmets and think they could be that soldier and be that soldier. The imperial symbol in the top left corner is slightly covered. It’s as if it needs to be there but the poster creator wanted the association to be through the helmet rather than the symbol. The troopers are what people on Lothal would most likely see rather than the symbol on a daily basis.

The poster comes from a similar Canadian poster titled “If the cap fits wear it!” This poster was a recruitment poster released between 1940 and 1945 (Toronto Public Library). It had the same structure showing different parts of the British military a Canadian could enter and join to fight against Germany. The lack of faces and just hats was meant to have someone believe they could be that person in the hat. Both posters brought in the same idea for recruitment in a tough time for the respective governments, fictional or not.